Canmore: A Canadian Mountain Town With Lots of Cheap (Well, Sort of) Eats

Communitea is a great place to hang out with friends, tea and a healthy meal

Canmore is the boomtown lurking on the eastern outskirts of Banff National Park. Long a coal-mining community, it found new life, and then some, when tourism and vacation home construction took off after the 1988 Winter Olympics (the cross-country ski events were held at the Canmore Nordic Centre). Despite a population of some 19,000 permanent and temporary residents, the mountain setting is superb, attracting active outdoor folk of all ages. The Bow Valley ice climbing, in particular, is world class, with lots of mountain biking and rock climbing nearby.

Befitting such a town, there’s a ton of places to eat and drink, and certainly more in the budget range than nearby Banff. Not that eating out is cheap here. It is, after all, a resort community. Road trippers should expect to pay a few dollars more for any given meal than they’re used to. My standouts are the first three, starred places, with the rest in no particular order.

My sister once remarked that Canmore was rare in that the majority of people she watched emerging from a local supermarket looked lean and healthy. So where do all those buff Canmorites go for nourishing meals and drinks?

Why, *Communitea Cafe. It’s a buzzing local hangout for hooking up with friends in comfy couches while sipping good Intelligentsia coffee and French press pots of excellent loose tea (try the licorice peppermint, apple pear rooibos or Thai coconut lemongrass). Meals range from stewed-apple compote and vegan tofu and avocado wraps for breakfast to black bean and beet burgers and chipotle chicken and avocado quesadillas at lunch.

But Communitea’s star attractions are the vegetable-packed lunch bowls and salads. Take my Buddha Bowl, a volcano of marinated tofu, spinach and organic brown rice, tossed with tahini dressing and topped with shredded beets, carrots, sunflower and pumpkin seeds and an unruly hairpiece of sprouts. It takes me 15 minutes of excavating to get to the bottom of this explosion of flavour and crunchiness.

The Buddha Bowl, a fantastic salad at Communitea

Communitea Cafe
117, 1001 6 Avenue, Canmore
Monday to Friday 9 am-4 pm, weekends 9 am-5 pm

To call *Valbella Gourmet Foods the best producer of sausages and cured meats in Alberta hardly does it credit. Since 1978, Walter and Leonie von Rotz and their family have been churning out first-class meat products from what is now a 25,000-square-foot production plant.

Walk into the retail store and you’ll see cooler after cooler displaying their creative fare. There’s a few dozen types of sausage (how about leek, cabbage and pork; curried Bombay lamb or whiskey-flavoured buffalo?) and various pates, bacons, hams and salamis. There’s pan-ready chicken cordon bleu and garlic-stuffed pork tenderloin and frozen burger patties and smoked duck breast. Did I mention chicken pot and fruit pies or specials like beef wellington or turducken (chicken inside a duck inside a turkey)? It’s hard to think of a meat product they haven’t tackled expertly.

You can order a nice smokie with sauerkraut in a bun or a sandwich and eat it at one of a handful of Valbella’s lunchtime tables, though there’s not much atmosphere. First and foremost, this is a deli, where road trippers can pick up excellent picnic supplies or sausages for grilling.

Valbella Gourmet Foods
104 Elk Run Boulevard, Canmore
Monday to Friday 8 am-6 pm, Saturday 9 am-5 pm. Closed Sunday

The mark of a first-rate croissant is twofold. First, the flaky shell should almost shatter into golden shards all over your plate. Then, the underlying belly should be soft, warm and buttery, an ephemeral pleasure that’s no good a day later or even later the same day.

*Le Fournil Bakery meets the standard on both counts, whether it’s a standard croissant, one lined with chocolate or almond paste or others stuffed with various sandwich fillings. The bakery’s light-filled café is also a good place to enjoy a coffee with a warm raspberry Danish or a macaroon or to pick up a fine loaf of dense bread or braided baguette. Still, it’s the croissants that are the main draw. But you’d better get there by mid-morning before they all disappear.

The perfect flaky, buttery croissant at Le Fournil Bakery

Le fournil Bakery
101A 1205 Bow Valley Trail, Canmore
Tuesday to Sunday 8 am-6 pm. Closed Monday

What, a poutine palace in the Canadian Rockies? Well, considering the number of young Quebecois who come to live, work and play here, it’s perhaps not surprising that a restaurant offering this Quebec staple should pop up in the industrial section of Canmore.

La Belle Patate does offer nice hand-fashioned burgers, sandwiches and subs. But really, it’s all about the poutine, offered with 15 toppings such as ground beef, sliced hot dogs, sautéed onions and eggs, and house-made coleslaw. Regardless of what you choose, the base is the same: double-cooked fries topped with squeaky cheese curds and gravy. To enhance the Quebec experience, I order chunks of Montreal smoked meat added to my poutine, which arrives hot in a tin pie plate.

It’s been at least 20 years since I last had poutine, long before it became trendy among high-end chefs (some truffle oil with that, sir?) and fast-food outlets alike. This is certainly a fresh, flavourful version, made to order. But still, it may be awhile before I’ll feel a need to order this artery-clogging comfort food again. La Belle Patate is very much a hands-on place, with the friendly owner chatting to all the customers and passing on orders to a crew of red-shirted cooks.

The existential Quebecois experience: poutine with Montreal smoked meat

La Belle Patate
102 Boulder Crescent, Canmore
Tuesday to Friday 11 am-9 pm, weekends noon-9 pm. Closed Monday

Let me start by saying Thai Pagoda serves some fine, affordable Thai cuisine. The fragrant Tom Kha soup, for example, is built on a chicken stock that’s made every day and then loaded with vegetables, shrimp and coconut milk. And the entrée standout is the green curry with shrimp, featuring a multi-layered coconut sauce begging to be sopped up with a second order of jasmine rice.

But here’s where things get interesting and unusual. The food menu at Thai Pagoda only takes up two pages. The remaining 14 are devoted to listing and then lovingly describing first the wines and second, but far from least, the beers. Indeed, co-owner Peter, an Austrian by birth, offers nearly 50 types of bottled beer, many of them top-ranked brews in the world.

It’s not often I would advocate spending $12 on a bottle of beer, but if you like a black-as-night, thick and rich brew, I suggest you order a Mikkeller Geek Breakfast, a 500-millilitre (17-ounce) oatmeal stout, with strong chocolaty hints of coffee, that makes a sublime sipping experience for two. It earns a perfect 100 at this site, which suggests this 7.5% beer goes well with breakfast. I guess that’s stranger than with spicy Thai food.

Thai Pagoda
1306 Bow Valley Trail

Here’s what can happen when you eat at The Market at Three Sisters Bistro, a small restaurant at the eastern outskirts of sprawling Canmore. Manager and head chef Anthony Rabot comes over to our table and explains in some detail the night’s seafood cassolette special: He’s roasted some leeks and other vegetables and then simmered them in a butter and cream sauce along with salmon and cod. After this mouth-watering description, he’s got five takers, who savour the chunks of fish and soak up the remnants of rich sauce with basmati rice.

The bistro offers standards such as breakfast burritos, lunch wraps and paninis and European-style pizzas, along with tapas (Thursday to Saturday evenings). But really, they’ll customize just about any dish for you. Make sure you leave room for the tart lemon pie, made with slivers of lemon; I’ve never tasted anything like it. Some things here are a little pricy for this blog, but it’s good, made-from-scratch food.

Three Sisters Bistro
104, 75 Dyrgas Gate, Canmore
Tuesday to Sunday 9 am-closing (check website). Closed Monday

Usually, when I see pizza being loaded into cardboard boxes, it’s for customer leftovers. But at Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co., this mid-afternoon routine is part of its burgeoning business of supplying pizzas to area grocery stores. Besides, the in-house artisan pizzas are a perfect size (six small wedges) for one, reducing the chances of leftovers.

My favourite is a great combination of soft Granny Smith apple slices and free-range, rosemary-lemon pulled chicken, with half cherry tomatoes scattered about. The crust is a blend of organic Alberta white and whole wheat flour, with a splash of maple syrup. The horseshoe-shaped dining area is framed by a clay pizza oven, atop stacked rock slabs, in one corner and a children’s play area in another.

Chicken and apple: a great pizza combo at Rocky Mountain Flatbread

Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co.
1, 838 10 Street, Canmore (also two Vancouver locations, a long ways from the Rockies)
Sunday to Thursday 11:30 am-9 pm, Friday-Saturday 11:30 am-10 pm

This is absolutely the greatest meal deal I’ve ever had. I walk into Bella Crusta maybe 30 seconds before the 6 pm closing time and say to the owner, “I guess it’s too late to order a sandwich.” “The kitchen’s closed,” he replies, “but I’ve got two slices of pizza left that I’m going to have to throw out, and I hate to waste food. So you can have them for free.” A minute later, I’m in my car happily munching on a slice of pepperoni and one of ham and pineapple.

You shouldn’t expect similar freebies, but even at full price, the sandwiches and pizzas are a screaming deal in a tourist town like Canmore. My half chicken salad sandwich, for example, is a satisfying lunch for only $4.50 (including tax), the highlight being the soft, house-made focaccia bread it’s served on. The popular, large cookies are another bargain at $1.25.

A half sandwich on focaccia at Bella Crusta

Bella Crusta
903 6 Avenue, Canmore
Monday to Saturday 10 am-6pm. Closed Sunday. Cash only

A lot of locals also head to JK Bakery for affordable soup, sandwiches and baked goods. They’ve just opened a second location, a couple of blocks from their Railway Avenue operation. The soup-and-sandwich combo is the lunchtime specialty of Harvest Cafe. I had a lovely cup of mulligatawny soup and a velvety chicken curry wrap—featuring oven-roasted chicken breast, apple slices and two types of melted cheese, in a grilled tortilla—for under $11 (2, 718-10 Street, daily 8:30 am-3 pm).

A fine mulligatawny soup and grilled chicken curry wrap at Harvest Cafe

And now a word about Canmore breakfasts and burgers. I’ve pretty much tried them all—some many times—and can say there are several good but no exceptional places, the lack of consistency being the main drawback. Summit Café (1101 Cougar Creek Drive) may be the best of the many standard coffee/breakfast places in town, with good cinnamon buns on weekends. For more upscale breakfast fare, try Chez Francois for creamy eggs Benedict, crepes or fruit-covered pancakes.

The often-packed Grizzly Paw makes its own beer to accompany burgers and such, and The Drake Pub attracts much of the outdoor crowd. But when the town is awash in tourists, we often head to Patrino’s Steak House & Pub for a beer and fully-loaded burger, and try to ignore the ring of TVs tuned to hockey or football games.

Finally, Canmore undoubtedly has the most coffee shops, per capita, in Alberta. But sadly, not one makes individual cups of drip coffee, such as pour overs, as far as I know, and the espresso-based drinks are only middling, as far as I’m concerned. Maybe someone will step up to the plate. There’s a market niche, begging to be exploited.

Best Burgers in the Mountain West

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Big, beefy burger with an onion ring cap at Burger Dive in Billings, Montana

Americans are pinkos? When it comes to ordering burgers medium rare at a lot of places, yes. Heck, some burger joints recommend it.

Meanwhile, in Canada, many restaurants are so afraid of incurring the wrath of health inspectors, they cook their patties to a shoe-leather well done.

Thus, regardless of where you come down on the health issue, American places that offer a choice of how you want your six-ounce patty cooked have an automatic hind leg up in my list of top burgers in the mountain west. That’s because a medium-rare or medium burger, like a steak, simply has more flavour and juiciness than dead cow cooked brown all the way through.

Other criteria that move burgers up my list are:

Fresh-ground, locally sourced meat from the tastiest parts of the critter
Hand-formed patties. Uniform-shaped pucks are evidence, in my mind, of frozen, imported patties of unknown origin. Indeed, they may be an assemblage of many animal parts and fillers
Good, fresh buns. An overlooked detail in many places, a good bun shouldn’t disintegrate and should add some flavour and texture to the mix
Interesting toppings certainly help, but a really good burger shouldn’t need too much stuff disguising the main attraction: the meat.

Without further ado, here are my highly subjective picks of best red-meat burgers from my travels through the mountain west of the U.S. and Canada. As always, a * indicates a standout.

*Diablo Burger can be a bit hard to find: It’s down an alley or out the back of a mall in downtown Flagstaff, Arizona. Kind of like rounding up stray cows. Which is somewhat appropriate, given all its natural meat comes from local, open-range ranches. My search for this hole-in-the-wall, unadorned place is rewarded with arguably the finest burger I’ve had a recent road trip, and I’ve had some damn good ones. Because the beef is 95 per cent lean, Diablo’s recommends a medium-rare burger. And the six-ounce patty indeed comes out pink in the middle and incredibly moist and flavourful. I choose the Blake burger ($11.75), featuring Hatch chile mayo, roasted green chiles and sharp cheddar. It’s all squeezed inside an excellent, locally made English muffin with a nice touch: DB branded on top. The toppings are aptly subtle and the lettuce and slice of red tomato are on the side, for me to add if so desired. But when the meat is this good, I don’t want distractions, though I do scarf down the hand-cut Belgian fries lying beneath this burger king.

At Diablo Burger, it’s not just the cattle that are branded

Diablo Burger
120 North Leroux Street, Flagstaff, Arizona (also a Tucson location)
Monday-Wednesday 11 am-9 pm, Thursday-Saturday 11 am-10 pm. Closed Sunday

Note: Bobcat Bite is relocating to 311 Old Santa Fe Trail in late summer 2013, under the name Santa Fe Bite.

Nearly ducking my head to get through the door of *Bobcat Bite, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I momentarily think I’ve entered a homesteader’s cabin (albeit with a pink adobe exterior and pictures of bobcats lining the walls). That’s because the low, dark wood beams are barely higher than the lanky cook’s head, and there’s scarcely room for half a dozen, tightly spaced tables and about the same number of counter seats; I’m asked to move over to make room for a couple of new arrivals. So the character of the place already has me excited. But really, I’m here for my baptismal GCCB (green chile cheeseburger for the non-cognoscenti), a legendary New Mexico concoction, and Bobcat’s version supposedly tops the list. You know it’s authentic when they ask how you want that 10-ounce, freshly ground chuck patty cooked. I go for the recommended medium rare, with no fries to sully the experience. And boy, does it deliver—two inches of one of the most succulent burgers I’ve ever tasted, with the melted chile-cheese topping adding some pleasant but not obtrusive heat. Bobcat’s GCCB is worth every bite for only $9; I don’t even touch the accompanying potato chips.

Good luck getting your mouth around this green chile cheeseburger at Bobcat Bite

Good luck getting your mouth around this 10-ounce green chile cheeseburger at Bobcat Bite

Bobcat Bite
420 Old Las Vegas Highway, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Wednesday to Saturday 11 am-8 pm, Sunday 11 am-5 pm. Closed Monday and Tuesday

Joe’s Farm Grill, a happening place in upscale Gilbert, outside of Phoenix, produces its own tomatoes and lettuce that go on its local, natural and fresh-ground chuck burgers. Despite the line, an efficient crew soon produces my Fontina burger ($9.50), loaded with roasted red peppers, mushrooms, pecan pesto and melted cheese. It takes a minute to get through the greenery and into the moist, perfectly cooked patty. The burger is wonderfully complemented with an order of rosemary-dill, panko-crumb onion rings, the crispness of the fried batter nicely offsetting the soft, slippery onion inside. What puts things over the top is sitting on the patio on a spring evening—alongside mostly young families at picnic tables—looking out at the farm and a magnificent tamarisk, its giant branches paralleling the ground before reaching skyward.

Joe’s Farm Grill
3000 East Ray Road, Gilbert, Arizona
Daily breakfast 8 am-11 am, lunch and dinner 11 am-9 pm

At Joe’s Farm Grill, most of the fixings are right off the farm.

I’ve covered this in a previous post, but *Bingo Burger, in Pueblo, Colorado certainly produced the best lamb burger I’ve ever tasted. All burgers and fries are cooked to order, and from a counter seat I can watch my thick, hand-formed patty grilled and then finished under a lid. Next come the twice-cooked fries—from San Luis Valley potatoes—tossed with a little salt. My God, these are easily the best fries on the trip, good enough I don’t want to sully them with the roasted garlic dipping sauce. The Goat Hill burger ($9.75, Colorado-raised lamb with goat cheese, mushrooms and a lemon-rosemary aioli) is right up there with it, cooked slightly pink as requested and requiring a well-hinged mouth to bite into.

Succulence of the lamb at Bingo Burger

Bingo Burger
101 Central Plaza, Pueblo, Colorado
Monday to Thursday 11 am-8 pm, Friday and Saturday 11 am-9 pm. Closed Sunday

Mountain Sun Pub & Brewery, in Boulder, Colorado boasts a lineup of 12 third-of-a-pound burgers, the Colorado-raised beef cooked to medium. The signature burger is called Date Night, an unusual medley of roasted poblano peppers, smoked bacon, melted goat cheese and, wait for it, date puree. The combination works surprisingly well, with the sweetness of the dates proving a counterpoint to the poblanos’ pungency. The obligatory accompaniment is a generous serving of hot fries that, the menu promises, will be redone if they’re not perfect.

A “date” with a fine burger at Mountain Sun Pub

Mountain Sun Pub
1535 Pearl Street, Boulder Colorado (a second location at 627 South Broadway)
Daily 11 am-1 am. Cash only

*Charcut Roast House, in my hometown of Calgary, Alberta, breaks most of my road-trip food rules. It’s in downtown Calgary, which means parking and a vacant table are hard to find at lunch. It’s fairly expensive and its signature burger is made of…. pork? Just ignore all this, and go eat at one of the city’s deservedly hottest restaurants. Here’s a tip: Get there before noon and ask for a seat at the counter, where you’ll get a ringside seat of a first-class team of chefs in action.

A friend and I both order the house-ground burger, a massive nine ounces of a unique blend of sausage and beef (70-30%), accompanied by a pile of Parmesan fries and homemade ketchup. Partway through the grill-top cooking, co-owner Connie DeSousa (she finished third in Top Chef Canada; check out the tattoo on her arm), peers over the counter and asks if we’d like an egg and some aioli spread on that burger. After nodding yes, we tuck into these juicy monsters, held together with thick, gooey cheese and a bun that miraculously survives the mauling. Sure, it costs $17, but for one of the better and bigger burgers I’ve had anywhere, it’s still good value. And if we’d paid attention to the name, the Share burger, we could easily have split it.

Charcut Roast House
101, 899 Centre Street SW, Calgary, Alberta
Monday-Tuesday 11 am-11 pm, Wednesday-Friday 11 am-1 am, Saturday 5 pm-1 am, Sunday 5 pm-10 pm

Honourable Mentions: Sugar Nymphs Bistro, is in the tiny town of Penasco on the scenic High Road between Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico. But it’s definitely a destination restaurant, thanks to the reputation of owner and former Greens Restaurant (San Francisco) chef Kai Harper Leah. I only had a delicious bite, but my sister said the green chile cheeseburger was one of the best burgers she’s tasted.

Lovely green chile cheeseburger at Sugar Nymphs Bistro

It doesn’t get more local than Chuckwagon Cafe, in the heart of cattle country, in the town of Turner Valley, an hour’s drive southwest of Calgary. Owner and chief cook Terry Myhre finishes steers at his nearby ranch and has them processed into various cuts for dense, hand-formed burgers or steak benedict.

The burgers are almost straight off the range at Chuckwagon Cafe

At the The Burger Dive, in Billings, Montana, my Blackened Sabbath is an unusual combination of blackened seasoning, blue cheese, bacon, garlic mayo and the kicker, a thick onion ring that provides a contrasting crunch to the luscious burger.

Best Sandwiches in the U.S. Mountain States

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Honking big, glorious sandwiches at Sedona Memories Bakery & Cafe in Sedona, Arizona

I don’t often get excited about sandwiches on road trips. That’s because they’re often, well, boring. But occasionally, some place bowls me over with a sandwich that’s incredibly fresh, creative and served, of course, between two pieces of great bread that definitely weren’t pulled from a bag. Here, then, are the top sandwiches I feasted on during a recent trip through the U.S. mountain states.

Creative chandeliers at 626 on Rood in Grand Junction, Colorado

If you’re craving some excellence on a long road trip, please, please take a short detour off the dreary I-70 in southwest Colorado and navigate your way through Grand Junction to its historic downtown and 626 on Rood. Yes, it’s a more upscale place, where you’ll pay a pittance for street-front parking, get linen napkins and heavy utensils and have your water glass filled from a long-necked wine bottle. None of this matters, nor does the menu, frankly. Just order the smoked duck breast club sandwich, and you’ll never be able to look at an ordinary club the same way again. It’s that oh-my-God good. Besides the incredibly succulent and plentiful slices of apple-wood-smoked duck (adequate adjectives fail me) there’s pepper bacon, Napa cabbage and roasted garlic mayo, all squeezed between two delightful pieces of challah bread.

This duck club, at 626 on Rood, may be the best sandwich I’ve ever had

Oh, and get some fantastic sweet potato fries as your side, and start things off with a complimentary plate of French baguette slathered in house-made herbed butter. It might be the best $12 you’ll ever spend on lunch. The duck club isn’t listed on the dinner menu, but just ask and they will deliver: They promised me.

626 on Rood
626 Rood Avenue, Grand Junction, Colorado
Monday to Saturday 11 am-11 pm, Sunday 4 pm-10 pm

I’m taking a two-hour detour for lunch, one that carries me steeply up through dense pine forests and around 15 mph-switchbacks en route to Silver City, in the southwest corner of New Mexico. The Curious Kumquat is just one of those nationally-recognized, destination restaurants you go out of your way for; they’re even sponsoring an NPR program I’m listening to on the tortuous approach.

What makes the Kumquat special? Consider that chef-owner Rob Connoley likes to forage for wild edibles—like cattails, forest moss and crawfish for today’s evening menu. For a relative bargain of about $40, I can enjoy a five-course tasting dinner featuring jerk rabbit, Catalan duck and smoked roots.

Fabulous mole-chicken sandwich at Curious Kumquat in Silver City, New Mexico

But I’m here for a real lunch deal ($7.50), a fantastic Oaxacan sandwich, with plentiful, moist pieces of shredded mole chicken, avocado, goat cheese and apple, served on lovely, seed-crusted ciabatta. The included side salad is no afterthought but a carefully constructed mix of quinoa, grape and sliced vegetables. The server brings around a couple of spectacular-looking desserts, but there’s no room, even for a jelly-filled sandwich cookie. It’s too bad I have to drive, otherwise I’d sample one of their 70 listed international beers.

Curious Kumquat
111 East College Avenue, Silver City, New Mexico
Tuesday to Saturday, lunch 11 am-5 pm, dinner 5:30-8:30 pm (final seating)

“You been on Man Vs. Food?” a customer asks the server as he soldiers through his sandwich at Sedona Memories Bakery & Café, in Sedona, Arizona. “You serve halves?” I add, eying the monsters anchoring tables in the gusty winds. “No, just entire sandwiches,” she replies. “You’ve got to eat the whole thing. We tie you to the chair till you’re finished.”

Sedona Memories doesn’t seem much concerned about aesthetics. Faded red-and-white checked plastic tablecloths cover scuffed beige plastic tables, with chairs to match, and the patio area overlooks a dusty gravel parking lot. This means all the energy goes into producing wonderful, thick, thick sandwiches, all for a bargain $7.25 in tourist-choked Sedona. Eschewing standards like egg and tuna salad or roast beef, I opt for one piled with veggies, cream cheese, avocado and sunflower seeds. What brings it all together is the house-made bread, especially the moist, dense whole wheat or seven grain. Forget getting my mouth around it; I have to stretch my hand just to contain it.

This bad boy holds down the tablecloth at Sedona Memories Bakery & Cafe

Sedona Memories Bakery & Cafe
321 Jordan Road, Sedona, Arizona
Monday to Friday 10 am-2 pm. Closed Saturday and Sunday

“Many have eaten here… few have died,” declares a sign in Big D’s Downtown Dive, a colourful Roswell diner featuring a collage of New Mexico license plates and tables covered in laminated maps. The Dive is known for its hamburgers and my choice of a cheesesteak sandwich, which seems a bit steep at $8.99 till it lands with a shudder on the table. If they hadn’t cut it in half, it would have measured at least 16 inches of soft roll absolutely stuffed with grilled steak, onions, peppers, mushrooms, green chiles and melted Swiss (my only quibble is it’s a tad salty, for me). This quivering mass is still steaming as I struggle onto the second half, with enough spillage to soak three napkins. It’s a good thing I don’t opt for the double meat (an added $3). That may have been sufficient to trigger my premature demise. One nice detail here is the cucumber-flavoured tank of water.

Hearty cheesesteak sandwich at Big D’s Downtown Dive in Roswell, New Mexico

Big D’s Downtown Dive
505 North Main Street, Roswell, New Mexico
Monday to Friday 11 am-9 pm

It takes a while for my lunch-hour order to be taken at *Guava Tree Café in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but I don’t mind. It lets me peer into the kitchen and watch the fastest-moving cook I’ve ever seen. She’s a literal whirling dervish, assembling Cuban-style sandwiches and Venezuelan arepas, featuring unleavened corn-meal bread. The guy behind the counter isn’t much slower—taking orders, delivering food and whipping up delicious fresh tropical juices. After agonizing deliberation (I really want to order an arepa pocket stuffed with shredded beef, plantains and black beans), I opt instead for a larger Pernil sandwich ($7.50). It’s a fantastic mix of slow-roasted pork, sweet caramelized onion, Swiss cheese and garlic sauce, warm pressed on Cuban bread. Add a side of yuca crisps and a coconut flan for dessert, and I’ve got a full Caribbean dining experience. My only advice: Don’t be in a hurry. The staff’s got that covered for you.

Savoury Cuban-style sandwiches at Guava Tree Cafe in Albuquerque, New Mexico

Guava Tree Cafe
216 Yale Boulevard SE, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Weekdays 9 am-4 pm, weekends 11 am-3 pm

Honourable Mentions for a couple of great places where I tried something other than their most famous sandwiches.

Tony Caputo’s Market & Deli (Salt Lake City, Utah) is one of America’s top delis and renowned for its Caputo sandwich, loaded with prosciutto, mortadella, salami, provolone, olive oil and balsamic ($8.25 for a monster whole, $4.85 for a half).

Check out the cheeses, meats and great sandwiches at Tony Caputo’s Market & Deli in Salt Lake City

Verde Lea Market Deli & Grill (Cottonwood, Arizona) makes grilled-steak tortas (big, $7 Mexican sandwiches) that are “three-quarters-of-a-pound of heaven in your mouth,” a server tells me. I do try the toasted telera, far superior to any of the round torta breads I’ve had elsewhere on this trip.

Try a great torta at Verde Lea Market Deli & Grill in Cottonwood, Arizona

Spring Climbing Road Trip

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World-class crack climbing in Indian Creek, Utah. Photo: Nancy Hansen

For those shaking off the last vestiges of winter, it’s not too late for a spring road trip to a climbing hotspot in the U.S. southwest. Both on the long drive down and as an occasional break from campsite cooking, it’s nice to grab something to eat or drink at independent, affordable, character places that won’t look askance at your chalky trousers. Here are some great such places, especially for those heading down the I-15 to Idaho, Utah and places beyond.

En Route on the I-15

Authentic Mexican street food… in Hamer, Idaho?

Nine hours into a bleary-eyed drive south, it’s time to pull off the I-15… into Hamer, Idaho? Where the population has quadrupled over the past decade to 50? Trust me, just look for a little van with an awning on the edge of town. If there’s nobody inside, just wander around back, and you’ll likely see a little old lady in a blue hairnet come hustling up the lane. She doesn’t speak much English, but a look at the short menu board tells you all you need to know: burritos, quesadillas and tortas (Mexican sandwiches), all for ridiculously cheap prices, like $5 for three fresh, loaded and spicy tacos. Whether you eat them at a picnic table or in your car, it’s as authentic as Mexican street food gets, at least in southern Idaho. (I’m not sure of the name or the hours, but it only takes a minute from the Hamer interstate exit, north of Idaho Falls, to see if it’s open).

A delicious plate of hand-made tacos for $5 in Hamer, Idaho

If a plate of ribs or a pulled-pork sandwich is what you’re after, persevere a little further to Malad City, also in southern Idaho. At the edge of town is Spero’s House of Barbecue, a shack-size structure surrounded by picnic tables and flanked by six barbecues. When I ask what’s in them, a woman lifts two lids to reveal thick slabs of pork ribs, then walks across to show me another filled with chicken. Spero and his wife and sister slow cook the meats till they’re fall-off-the bone-tender. My pulled pork sandwich is six ounces of juicy meat topped with slaw (for less than $6), with the barbecue sauce on the side, as I like it. Just about everything is house made including the garlic bread, BBQ sauce and potato salad.

The ribs are just starting to slow cook at Spero’s House of Barbecue in Malad City, Idaho

Spero’s House of Barbecue
168 East 50 South, Malad City
Daily 10 am-8 pm

If you’re like me, you normally try to get past Salt Lake City and its hour-long gauntlet of heavy traffic as quickly as possible. But sometimes it’s worth a surprisingly quick detour, especially if you need a caffeine jolt. The second surprise is that in a state where many people don’t touch coffee, SLC has two of the most passionate “third-wave” java places you’ll find outside the wet coast. Nobrow Coffee Werks has maybe the most advanced individual-cup brewing machine on the planet, while caffe d’bolla has half a dozen glass siphons for the same purpose. They both also make excellent espresso-based drinks and are a good place to buy first-rate beans for your trip. While you’re in the downtown area, stop at Tony Caputo’s Market & Deli for terrific Italian sandwiches.

Highbrow coffee brewing setup at Nobrow Coffee Werks in Salt Lake City

Highbrow java brewing setup at Nobrow Coffee Werks in Salt Lake City

Camp Escapes

Moab

The joke is so many Canadians flee in spring to Indian Creek, and its world-class crack climbing, that it’s become a suburb of Canmore. Despite the addition of camp picnic tables and toilets, most climbers occasionally need groceries, a shower or just a break for their beat-up hands and forearms. So they head to the tourist mecca of Moab, where there’s plenty of eating choices.

I have two good climbing friends who are most articulate about a wide range of subjects. But when I ask them to rate Quesadilla Mobilla, a parked food truck specializing in, yes, quesadillas, words fail them. The best I’ve gotten so far is “That is f…ing killer, man” and “Best quesadilla I ever had”. This after two or three visits. I’d give you a lengthier description, but when I blow through Moab, QM is closed…. on a Tuesday and a Wednesday; I thought the default closing day in Utah was Sunday! Sure enough, the couple that owns it are climbers and like to sneak away when the crags are quieter mid-week. The climbing theme is evident in a vegetarian quesadilla called The Dirt Bag, though my friends like the slow-cooked beef in the Southern Belle. Despite the lack of first-hand evidence, I suggest you give them a try. It’s #!*% awesome.

The Quesadilla Mobilla (mostly stationary) food truck in Moab, Utah

Quesadilla Mobilla
83 South Main Street, Moab, Utah
Thursday, Sunday and Monday 11 am-4 pm, Friday-Saturday 11 am-8 pm. Tuesday and Wednesday closed

These same two friends give a bruised two-thumbs up to a new place, Twisted Sistas Cafe (11 East 100 North) especially for its roasted beet pomegranate salad.

The Love Muffin Cafe (139 North Main Street, opens daily at 7 am) gets a lot of early morning love in Moab. Get there much after eight, and a line of active folks will be stretching toward the door awaiting their organic coffee fix and breakfast items headlined by seven types of burritos. But things move quickly. Within a few minutes of ordering, I’m munching on a warm, satisfying egg and chorizo burrito, an adequate size for a relative Moab bargain of $6. If you’re looking for something more substantial in a funky setting, try Eklecticafe (352 North Main Street), featuring a huge, steaming cup in its front garden and large plates of huevos rancheros and giant cinnamon rolls.

You want funky, big breakfasts in Moab? Try Eklecticafe

Zion National Park, southwest Utah

After a night or two in a portaledge on one of Zion’s big sandstone walls, you’re no doubt ready to gorge.

The big walls beckon in Zion National Park in southwest Utah

“You will not leave Oscar’s hungry. I guarantee it,” the Zion shuttle bus driver says as she drops me off in downtown Springdale, just outside the park gates. “If you do, it means you haven’t finished.” Oscar’s Cafe is thus the perfect breakfast for big days of climbing or hiking. A couple of minutes after ordering, my huevos rancheros special arrives so hot it’s still bubbling. The house-made green chile, salsa and guacamole topping contribute to a first-class dish. Yes, it’s big enough to take five minutes of delving to get to the eggs in the middle. And if your bivy mate is hogging the space, Oscar’s has a list of half-pound garlic burgers, including The Murder Burger. As I leave, I flip over their business card: “Hungry??? Don’t Blame Oscar’s.”

“You will not go hungry” eating breakfasts like this huevos rancheros at Oscar’s Cafe in Springdale, outside of Zion National Park

Oscar’s Cafe
948 Zion Park Boulevard, Springdale, Utah
Daily 7 am-10 pm

City of Rocks

Thousands of rocks climbers flock to this remote southwest corner of Idaho every year to scale granite face routes that rank among the finest in the U.S. It’s not far from the camping sites here to the whistlestop community of Almo, which might be a hair bigger than Hamer.

Great granite in City of Rocks, Idaho

Canadian friends who come to City of Rocks most years always make the pilgrimage to Outpost Steakhouse (“Where the pavement ends and the West begins”) for its superb Angus rib-eye steaks, ranging from 12 to 16 ounces. I arrive too early for that much protein so instead opt for the $12 steak sandwich—tender slices of Angus beef with melted Swiss in a hoagie bun along with steak fries. I’m still working on my side salad when the hot meal arrives. “I keep telling her (the cook) she’s too quick,” the waitress says. Nearby, there’s a great selection of beer and made-from-scratch thin-crust pizzas at Rock City Mercantile.

Great rib-eye steaks and steak sandwiches at Outpost Steakhouse in tiny Almo, Idaho

FaceCook: A Visual Journey to the U.S. Mountain States

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Jen Castle and a photographer friend at her Hell’s Backbone Grill in Boulder, Utah

Just back from a three-week road trip to New Mexico, Arizona and other mountain states in between. Many words will no doubt follow from all the great eateries and drinkeries I visited. But for now, here’s a portfolio of some of the wonderful people I encountered while seeking independent, affordable places.

Aaron Seitz is the gregarious owner of College Drive Cafe in Durango, Colorado

Aaron Seitz is the gregarious owner-chef of College Drive Cafe in Durango, Colorado

Charming, elegant Anne-Laure Ligier, co-owner of the fabulous Clafoutis bakery in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Rick serves some great red-chile enchiladas at The Shed in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Rick serves some great red-chile enchiladas and posole at The Shed in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Lela bakes humungous gluten-free cookies and Rice Krispies squares at Coffee Spot in Taos, New Mexico

Four fun-loving Oregon kids in White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

Decadent desserts at the destination Curious Kumquat in Silver City, New Mexico

Dough tossing just part of the entertainment at Screaming Banshee Pizza in Bisbee, Arizona

Oliver and Sarah run the excellent Cafe Aqui roasters in Tucson, Arizona

Two Canadian connections at EXO Roast in Tucson: barista Kate is from Saskatchewan and sports an Alberta-based ball cap

Telahoun Molla, co-owner of the terrific Cafe Desta Ethiopian restaurant in Tucson

Washing the caked-on sand off my car at a fund-raising carwash in Tucson

Josh, one of the friendly, frenetic crew at D’Lish Drive-Thru in Scottsdale, Arizona

Tammy and 80-some types of bottled beer at hole-in-wall Vermilion Cliffs Bar & Grille in northern Arizona. Wonderful ribs, burgers and hand-cut fries. Well worth the detour or a stop en route to North Rim of Grand Canyon.

Coffee guru Joe Evans and maybe the world’s most advanced individual-cup brewing system at Nobrow Coffee Werks in Salt Lake City

Kept running into Alec in the Salt Lake City area. Here, he’s working at the gorgeous Finca in SLC

Despina tending one of six slow-cooking grills at Spero’s House of Barbecue in Malad City, Idaho

Screwed in Orem, Utah? No, Just Saved

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When I find this in my tire, I think I’m screwed.

What would happen if everything went according to plan? Why, we’d miss out on some excellent adventures.

After driving some 7,000 kilometres on this road trip from Calgary to almost the Mexico border, I’m searching for a food joint in Orem, Utah, just south of Salt Lake City. I miss the turnoff and, driving through a parking lot, suddenly hear a “whap…whap…whap” coming from one of my tires. Sure enough, there’s a sheet metal screw submerged to the head. Damn! Double damn! Looking for the nearest place of salvation, I see a sign for Nico’s Auto and, underneath, “Hablas Espanol.”

“Can you fix it?” I ask the owner/mechanic Gaston Biscaro, en Ingles.

“I can have a look at it, if you can wait a couple of hours.” Instead, perhaps taking pity on me, he immediately jacks up the car, removes the tire and pulls out the offending screw. “I’ll have to seal it. It’ll probably take 15 or 20 minutes.”

The tire is off for repairs

Okay, I’ll get something to eat. I head on foot to Pizzeria Seven Twelve , my original destination, and submerge my sorrows in an excellent house-made sausage pizza with hand-pulled mozzarella and carmelized onions on a nice, puffy sourdough crust. It might be the best pizza I’ve had on my three-week trip.

And I’m off for a fabulous pie at Pizzeria Seven Twelve

I trudge back to Nico’s, where the car is waiting, tire fixed. “What’s the damage?” “Fifty,” I think I hear. “Fifty?” “No, fifteen.” Wow! Think that deserves a good tip.

This is where things get fun. I start talking with an assistant, Moses, who asks what I’m doing. I tell him a road trip focused on food and hand him a business card. “Hey, Gaston, look what this guy’s doing,” Moses says, as he pulls up my blog on a computer. Nico brings in his mechanical helper, his father-in-law, who until recently ran a local Argentinian restaurant. The father-in-law unwraps a paper towel, pulls out a loaf of bread his wife has just baked, cuts off large slices with a big knife and passes me one. It’s warm and delicious.

“Want a soda?” Nico asks, reaching into a small fridge. “No? Here’s a bag of mate so you can make yourself a cup.”

With that, I head outside for a group photo with my new friends, shake hands and I’m on my way. Think I should celebrate with a Fat Tire beer.

My new friends (from left) Moses, Gaston and his father-in-law

More than 1,000 kilometres later, the tire survives this April snowstorm north of Butte, Montana

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Marathon Mouth

Great road trip eats in western U.S. and Canada

Canmore: A Canadian Mountain Town With Lots of Cheap (Well, Sort of) Eats

Best Burgers in the Mountain West

Best Sandwiches in the U.S. Mountain States

Spring Climbing Road Trip

FaceCook: A Visual Journey to the U.S. Mountain States

Screwed in Orem, Utah? No, Just Saved

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